Latch.



PATENTED J'AN. 20,1903. A. WILLIAMS.

LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1902;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

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' PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903. A. WILLIAMS.

LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 31, 1902.

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HO MODEL.

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LATCH.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 718,684, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed May 31, 1902; Serial No.109,657. model- To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ARTHUR WILLIAMS, of the United States Army,a citizen of the United States, at present stationed at Manila, in the Philippine Islands, have invented new and useful Improvements in Door- Latches, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in door locks or latches especially adapted for use on heavy-hinged doors, although the improved latch may be used on sliding doors and on other kinds of doors or in other places.

Ordinarilysliding-doorlatches are equipped with thumb-pieces which require to bemanipulated by one movement of the hand, and thereafter the door may be moved along while the thumb-piece is held in its adjusted position.

The object of the present invention is the provision of an improved latch operating means by which the hand in gripping and opening the door also operates at the same time or movement. to retract the latch and to hold or retain it in an inactive position.

A further object is to compactly arrange the several parts and'allow the latch to be operated from either side of the door, to simplify and cheapen the construction and to promote the efficiency of the article.

With these ends in view the invention consistsin the novel combination, construction,

and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures. Figure l is a front elevation of my improved latch applied to a sliding door. Fig. 2 is a vertical section in the plane of the dotted line 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse horizontal sectional views illustrating the latch-bolt in its projected and retracted positions, respectively, the plane of the sections being indicated by the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 2. 5 designates a portion of a sliding door, in which is formed a mortise or slot 6, which accommodates the casing 7 of the latch, said latch being of the type known as mortiselatches. On opposite sides of the door are firmly secured the handles 8 9, which may be of any approved construction and which are preferably secured in corresponding positions to the door. The handles and the latch-cas ing may be of any approved style known to those skilled in the art.

10 designates the slidable bolt, which may be in the form of a latch-bolt or a'bolt of any other suitable character. Said bolt is slidably fitted in suitable guides or on suitable supports 11, which are provided within the casing, and said bolt is adapted to be normally projected beyond the face-plate of the casing and the front vertical edge of the door by any suitable form of retractor. In the embodiment of the invention shown by Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive, the inner portion of the slidable bolt is provided with a stem 12, adapted to receive the front portion of a coil retracting-spring 13. The rear portion of this retracting-spring is fitted to a stud 14:, that is provided on the back of the casing 6, said stud serving to. hold the retracting-spring normally in operative relation to the bolt, and thereby preventing the spring from becoming accidentally displaced.

The latch-operating device of my invention is preferably embodied in the form of a slidable handle, which is arranged in such relations to the door-handles 8 9 that it can be easily grasped in or by the hand when one of the handles is operated to open the door, said double latch-handle having operative connection with the .slidable bolt and adapted to move the latter to a withdrawn position when the double handle is drawn toward either of the door-handles. As shown by the drawings, the double latch-handle consists of the slides 15 16 and the grip-bars 17 18, the whole being firmly secured together and arranged in the position shown more clearly in Fig. 1. The slides 15 are loosely fitted in the transverse openings 19, which are provided in the door and the sides of the lock-casing, and hence these slides occupy a position transversely across the lock-casing, so as to be slidable therethrough in a path substantially at right angles to the path of the latch-bolt 10. The hand-grips 17 18 of the double latchoperating handle are disposed in positions parallel to the door-handles 8 9, respectively, and these hand-grips are adapted to move toward and from the respective door-handles.

.sition between the door-handles.

The slides and the grips of the latch-operating handle are so prodortioned with respect to the door and the door-handles that the latch -actuating handle may move the required distance with relation to the doorhandles in order to properly withdraw the slidable bolt. One of the slides of the latchoperating handle is disposed in close relation to the slidable bolt, preferably by bringing the slide 16 above the bolt 10, and this element of the latch-operating handle is operatively connected to said bolt by a suitable form of intermediate connection.

My invention contemplates the provision of various intermediate connections between the latch-operating handle and the slidable bolt; but in the embodiment shown by the drawings I employ a flexible metallic tape, band, or ribbon 20. As shown by Figs. 3 and 4, the tape or ribbon 20 is attached at one end to a recessed portion 21 of the slide 16 by means of a pin 22, but the other end of this tape is attached to the slidable bolt by means of a screw or its equivalent 23, which is fastened to said bolt at a point some distance in the rear of the front end that is adapted to project beyond the latch-casing. On opposite sides of the tape or ribbon are disposed the guide-rollers 2t 25, which are journaled at 26 in suitable lugs or brackets 27, which are provided on the inner opposing sides of the casing, said rollers being also arranged in front of the slide 16 of the latch-operating handle, as shown by Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive. The action of the retracting-spring 13 against the heel of the slidable bolt makes the latter assume a shot or projected position beyond the front face of the casing, and this bolt draws on the flexible tape or ribbon until the latter is moved to a position in line with the axis of the slidable bolt, as shown by Fig. 3, the latter indicating the normal position of the parts comprising the latch. The tension of the tape or ribbon on the slide 16 of the double handle holds the latter in a position where its grips 17 1S lie equidistant from the door-handles 8 9, whereby the latch-operating handle assumes a central or midway po- In opening the door from one side the operators hand is adapted to close around the doorhandle 8 and the grip 17 of the double latchhandle, whereby the operation of closing the hand upon the handle 8 serves to slide the latch-handle toward the door-handle 8. This slidable movement of the latch-handle draws the band or tape 20 around the roller 24 and to a position indicated by Fig. 4, whereby the latch-bolt 10 is withdrawn within the casing against the energy of the retractingspring 13. If it is desired to open the door from the opposite side, the operator grasps the door-handle 9 and the grip 18 of the double latch-operating handle, thereby drawing the latch-handle in a direction toward the door-handle 9 and making the slide 16 pull the tape or band 20 around the other guideroller 25. The tape or band is again adapted to draw on the latch-bolt and move the lat ter within the casing against the energy of the spring 13.

From this description it will be seen that the latch-operating handle may move in either direction and toward either of the door-handles, so as to pull the latch-bolt within the casing. The energy of the spring 13 not only impels the latch-bolt to a projected position, but it also serves to hold the latch-operating handle to a central inactive position within or between the door-handles.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to seen re by Letters Patent- 1. In a door-latch, the combination with a spring-pressed latch-bolt, and fixed handles, of a slide movable transversely across the path of the bolt and provided atits ends with pull-pieces disposed Within said fixed handles, a pair of guide-rollers supported on opposite sides of the bolt and close to the slide, and a flexible metallic tape passing at all times between the guide-rollers and attached at its ends to the bolt and the slide; said tape adapted to be drawn around one roller or the other according to the direction in which the slide is pulled to retract the bolt, and said tape being held normally in a taut straight condition by the action of the spring on the latch-bolt.

2. Adoor-latch comprisingacasing,stationary handles on opposite sides of the casing, a pair of slides mounted in said casing for movement transversely therein, pull-bars disposed within the handles and attached to the ends of the slides, a spring-pressed latch-bolt mounted in the casing adjacent to one of the slides, guide-rollers supported in the casing on opposite sides of the bolt and adjacent to the slide lying near the bolt, and a flexible connection attached to the bolt and to said slide and adapted to play around one roller or the other according to the direction of movement of the slides.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ARTHUR WILLIAMS.

\Vitnesses:

MILTON E. SPRINGER, WILLIAM J. SPENCER.

IIS 

